1st LD Writethru: Oil prices plunge as IMF lowers growth forecast

Oil prices fell Tuesday as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) cut its global growth outlook.

The IMF lowered its global economic growth forecast to 3.5 percent and 3.7 percent for 2015 and 2016 respectively Tuesday.

The global growth rates in 2015-2016 represented both downward revisions of 0.3 percentage points relative to the October 2014 World Economic Outlook, the IMF's flagship report said Tuesday.

The global lender forecast that China, the top global oil consumer's economy would expand by 6.8 percent in 2015 and 6.3 percent in 2016 respectively, down by 0.3 percentage point and 0.5 percentage point respectively from its previous predictions.

Global amble supplies also continued to weigh on oil prices. In December, OPEC crude oil production averaged 30.20 million barrels per (mb/d) day, an increase of 0.14 mb/d over the previous month, according to OPEC's monthly oil market report issued last Thursday.

Non-OPEC oil supply is estimated to have grown by 1.98 mb/d in 2014, driven by higher than expected growth seen at the end of the year. In 2015, non-OPEC oil supply is projected to grow by 1.28 mb/ d.

U.S. crude production climbed 60,000 barrels a day to 9.19 mb/d in the week ended Jan. 9, the highest in weekly estimates that started in January 1983, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA)'s data released last Wednesday.

Light, sweet crude for February delivery dived 2.3 U.S. dollars to settle at 46.39 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for March delivery dropped 0.85 dollars to close at 47.99 dollars a barrel. Endite